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Saturday, 8 February 2014

Service 50 makes a welcome return

Back in September Hull City Council replaced tendered Monday to Saturtday daytime service 50 with new route 58, oeprated by EYMS. It continued to link Hull City Centre with Laburnum Avenue, James Reckitt Avenue, Ings Road, Holderness Road Morrisons and Broadway Drive. However it did not serve the southern end of Holderness Road as the 50 had done, instead operating via Beverley Road, Clough Road and Chamberlain Road; it also did not serve Jalland Lodge in Bilton Grange as the 50 had done.This change did not go down well, as many users of the 50 wanted to go to the shops, banks and other facilities on the southern end of Holderness Road. The aim of the 58 was to offer daytime links to employment sites on Clough Road but I guess these links haven't been well used, and the users of the 50 weren't happy with having to go to Hull City Centre or Morrisons when they would sometimes rather shop on Holderness Road.At the last Hull Bus Forum, the city council representative called the change a "mistake", and from Monday 10th February it is being reversed with the 58 being replaced by returning service 50, again operated by EYMS. The timetable is reduced with less journeys; the 58 had 7 from Hull and 6 from Broadway Drive while the 50 will have 4 from Hull (5 on Saturdays) plus a 'short' extra from Jalland Lodge to Morrisons and 5 from Morrisons (6 on Saturdays). The operating period is also slightly reduced. The early 0810 from Hull is cancelled, first departure from Hull now 1020 (probably no need for the 0810 now the route no longer serves Clough Road) and the last journey from Hull Interchange is 1640 rather than 1730 - that should please passengers who complained at the Hull Bus Forum the 1600 was too early and 1730 too late with the old 58 timetable.At least Hull City Council have recognised their mistake and returned the service to what passengers seem to want. Goes to show though that it's not just bus operators that can misjudge public opinion. In those areas such as Tyne and Wear where authorities wish to introduce Quality Contracts and plan the bus network themselves, is the public sector necessarily going to understand bus passengers wishes any better than private sector operators?

Just off topic, the times for the X62 from 15th Feb are now up on the Stagecoach website, however the Metro (West Yorks) website still has the old times despite me reminding them to put the new times up and they re-assuring me they'll be up yesterday! Main features are a new very early journey at 04.50am from Hull to Leeds with a new early journey from Leeds at 06.45. Later last journeys from both Leeds and Hull.